Ballater Walking Festival - Ballater's 3 Peak Challenge - Moderate Walk

Ballater's 3 Peak Challenge
Moderate WalkDepart from Green Hut Ballater at 10am- ON FOOT. Please arrive 10 minutes before the scheduled departure time.
Approximate Distance 16km
Approximate Ascent 710m
Approximate Walking Time 6hrs
Landranger Map no. 44DESCRIPTION
Starting in the village centre, the three peaks of Ballater - Craig Coillich, Craigendarroch and Sgor Buidhe, will be tackled in this order.
Firstly, we pass over the Royal Bridge and follow a path through newly planted saplings along the River Dee, then cross the main road into Dalmochie woods. After a section on a good forestry road, we ascend through the forest on a steep narrow track, making for the top of Craig Coillich (The Hill of the Burn). A slight detour takes us to the summit cairn (397m), which affords great views down over Ballater, Sgor Buidhe and Craigendarroch. Retracing our steps back to the main track, we descend through woods on good tracks, though steep in places, until we arrive back at the Royal Bridge.
The route then follows a path alongside the River Dee around the golf course to Sluievannachie, where we cross the road and soon start our ascent of Craigendarroch (the Hill of Oaks). Although quite steep and rocky in places, the footpath through this ancient oakwood is well trodden. From the cairn and trigpoint (402m) at the top, we can look down onto the village to the south, majestic Lochnagar to the west, and to the north, Creagan Riabhach, which lies above our third peak, Sgor Buidhe. The path down to the Pass of Ballater is narrow and fairly steep in places, and requires an off-track section through blaeberry bushes. Having crossed the Pass road, we head uphill on a good Land Rover track, and will take several opportunities to take in the magnificent views behind us, of the various layers of hills between Ballater and the high peaks of the Cairngorm range. At the yoga or gathering stone, we then start our descent, again on good tracks, past the Sgor Buidhe mast in the near distance, and down to the Pass road once again. From here we follow the newly surfaced Cinder Path back to Ballater.TERRAIN
All three options include some steep ascents, on Land Rover tracks, narrow paths and with some off-track sections. Poles are recommended.